Kampala, 12 July, 2023 / 9:50 pm (ACI Africa).
The Vatican-based Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD) has urged Catholic journalists in Africa to amplify the aspirations of migrants and refugees.
In his message to Catholic journalists participating in the Uganda training that the African region of the World Catholic Association for Communication, SIGNIS Africa, organized, Michael Cardinal Czerny acknowledges the “privileged position” that Catholic journalists have in making known the “cry” of migrants and refugees.
“Journalists have the responsibility to offer a new narrative, putting our migrant siblings, together with their families, at the center, linking their sufferings and aspirations to the causes of their migration – to the ‘why’ behind their being forced to flee – so as to connect with solutions that would end or heal their displacement,” Cardinal Czerny says in his message shared with ACI Africa on Wednesday, July 12.
“As journalists, you are in a privileged position to listen to their cry and make their aspirations known to the world,” the Cardinal adds in the message that was delivered to the SIGNIS Africa workshop participants at St. Mary’s National Seminary, Ggaba, in Uganda’s Kampala Archdiocese on Tuesday, July 11.
In amplifying the voices of migrants and refugees, Cardinal Czerny says that Catholic journalists “become contributors to the practice of good politics, bridging the aspirations of migrant people and offering recommendations towards possible solutions to their plight.”